EATING WELL

EATING WELL; Psyllium in Cereal: Unknown Territory

By MARIAN BURROS

Published: September 6, 1989

SINCE April, the word psyllium has probably appeared in print more times than it had in all the five centuries after Gutenberg. General Mills and Procter & Gamble are responsible for its sudden notoriety: General Mills because it introduced a cereal called Benefit that contains psyllium, and Procter & Gamble because it wants the Food and Drug Administration to do something about health claims made for the General Mills product.

Last week, the psyllium war heated up when the Kellogg Company announced the introduction of Heartwise, another cereal containing psyllium. Other companies are looking toward psyllium not only for new cereals but also for dozens of other products, including soft drinks.

And the F.D.A. is planning to tell each of these companies that there are some questions about psyllium that it wants answered. A letter outlining these questions is expected to be submitted to the agency's Commissioner, Dr. Frank E. Young, for final review this week.

William E. LaMothe, Kellogg's chairman, said last week: ''There are no questions of safety in regard to psyllium. We are not concerned about it.''

Psyllium - the p is silent, as in pshaw - is a grain grown in India. Its husk is high in soluble fiber, the fiber that made oat bran household words. Soluble fiber, as health seekers have been told for the last several years - ad nauseam - has been shown to reduce blood cholesterol levels.

Since psyllium contains about 80 percent soluble fiber and oat bran contains about 10 percent, it is assumed that psyllium will have an even greater benefit. But how much psyllium is too much?

''For the person who wants to do a little bit more than a low-fat diet to reduce cholesterol, psyllium is better than medication,'' said Jayne Hurley, the associate nutritionist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer-advocacy group in Washington.

''I don't think it's going to hurt anyone, and it certainly doesn't have the side effects of medication.''

Richard J. Ronk, the deputy director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the Food and Drug Administration, said even though psyllium is on the agency's list of foods ''generally recognized as safe,'' it ''does not have a long history of food use.''

So far psyllium has been used in laxatives like Metamucil. The F.D.A. also permits it in ice cream as a stabilizer. But putting psyllium in cereal is uncharted territory.

And that, Mr. Ronk said, brings up the host of questions the F.D.A. will be asking in its letter. These are among them:

* What is the laxative effect of psyllium? The more fiber consumed, the greater the rate at which food passes through the gastrointestinal tract.

* What is the effect of psyllium on children?

* Once the body adapts to a certain level of psyllium, is it possible that cholesterol levels will rise again?

* Is it necessary to take increasing amounts of psyllium in order to keep cholesterol levels down?

* Can the consumption of psyllium impair the absorption of minerals or fat-soluble vitamins?

* Is the effectiveness of psyllium decreased or increased when it is combined with certain ingredients like those found in cereals?

For now there are only tentative answers. Dr. David J. A. Jenkins, a professor of medicine and nutritional sciences at the University of Toronto who is a leading authority on soluble fibers, is not particularly worried that people will overdose on psyllium or any other soluble fiber.

''They have a valuable safeguard,'' he said. ''Because of their bulking effect and their laxative effect, they cannot be consumed in outlandish amounts.''

Procter & Gamble, the maker of Metamucil, has challenged health claims made for General Mills' cereal Benefit and has asked the F.D.A. to prohibit General Mills from making them. Procter & Gamble contends that Benefit is being marketed as a drug rather than a food and, as such, requires extensive tests to prove its safety and effectiveness.

Procter & Gamble's opposition stems from its unsuccessful effort to make cholesterol-lowering claims for Metamucil. The F.D.A. said the company lacked sufficient data to prove the claims. Before a therapeutic claim can be made for a drug, it must be subjected to rigorous testing. With cereal or any other food, proof of safety and efficacy is not required.

The F.D.A. is expected to ask General Mills to substantiate its health claims for Benefit, Mr. Ronk said.

The health claims made by General Mills for Benefit are based on a single study, which is being reviewed for possible publication by The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

An abstract of the study, which involved 38 men aged 24 to 70, showed a 9.2 percent drop in blood cholesterol levels among the participants eating Benefit cereal as part of a low-fat diet. Of the 9.2 percent, 5.9 percent of the decrease was attributed to Benefit; the remainder to the low-fat diet.

''One of the things we are looking at is whether their single test is enough,'' Mr. Ronk said.

General Mills said it would cooperate with the F.D.A. and would provide the agency with whatever information it seeks.

Packages of Benefit, which is available only in certain test markets, say it is ''the high soluble fiber cereal shown to reduce cholesterol.'' On the front of the package the words ''Reduce Cholesterol'' are printed in large type. >What Does This Mean For the Consumer?

So where does all this leave health-conscious consumers? That depends on whether the consumer looks to psyllium or oat bran as a magic bullet or sees these ingredients as just one of many aids to a healthful diet.

Cereals manufactured without oat bran or psyllium should not be discarded. Assuming that they are low in fat and sugar, they are equally important in the diet. It is possible to overdose on soluble fiber, causing discomfort and perhaps harm.

For people who are bored with a daily bowl of oatmeal or oat bran, a psyllium-based cereal will provide some variety and may produce the same cholesterol-lowering benefits. In any case, any of these cereals is preferable to bacon and eggs.

But just because there are no advertising dollars behind dried beans and peas and lentils to remind Americans of their soluble-fiber content, this doesn't mean they are any less effective in providing soluble fiber.

Eating a half cup of dried beans, peas or lentils provides exactly the same amount of soluble fiber as two-thirds cup of cooked oat bran or oatmeal or three-fourths cup of the cold cereals Benefit and Heartwise.